VISAKHAPATNAM: Telugu Desam Party leaders have criticised the State government for politicising backwardness of several districts in Andhra Pradesh and declaring majority of the Telangana districts as backward.

Just because Telangana Rashtra Samiti had become a pain in the neck for the Congress, it had declared the most developed Ranga Reddy district as ‘backward', said Telugu Desam leader Bandaru Satyanarayana at a press conference on Tuesday.

Taking exception to declaring three out of four Rayalaseema districts as ‘backward', he said it was also under political compulsions, as Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy was constantly making it difficult for the Congress Government to go forward on its own terms leaving aside YSR's schemes.

Several Central Government incentives for education, irrigation, health and other primary needs of people would now be diverted to these 13 districts instead of spreading them evenly to all districts like the NREGS. He said the party would launch an agitation if the State government did not amend this list.

Vizag most backwardVisakhapatnam district, with 11 tribal mandals, was the most backward in the region, but unfortunately it did not figure in the list of backward districts, said Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar. He demanded that the three MPs from the North-coastal Andhra put pressure on the government to include Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam also in the list.

In the coastal Andhra Pradesh, Prakasam district was also very backward, but it too did not find a place in the list. The North coastal region had Maoist problem and lacked irrigation facilities. Malarial deaths in the Agency area and fishermen losing livelihood was common, he observed.

[size=9]Talking of Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Daggubati Purandeswari's alleged lack of interest in developing her constituency, Mr. Ganesh Kumar asked her to come to slums and spend a day instead of coming to Visakhapatnam only to inaugurate up-market showrooms or industrial units. Party leader Bharanikana Rama Rao was also present.[/size]

Meanwhile, the Uttarandhra Praja Hakkula Porata Vedika termed the selection of Vizianagaram district only as ‘backward' leaving aside Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam as “illogical,” as most of the areas in the other two districts were undeveloped.

Talking of Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Daggubati Purandeswari's alleged lack of interest in developing her constituency, Mr. Ganesh Kumar asked her to come to slums and spend a day instead of coming to Visakhapatnam only to inaugurate up-market showrooms or industrial units. Party leader Bharanikana Rama Rao was also present.

The backward district list is the most blatant misrepresentation of facts, a direct result of Telanagana movement. This is another indication that to appease and pamper telangana vaadis, state was diverting the resources to T for almost 50 years. Different statistics that Mr Ckakrwarthy presents in his book supports this fact. if a district like Srikakulam that languishes in the bottom of the list across all stats, is 13th most developed district in the state, what kind of joke is this.